Sticky Words? Towards a Theory of Rhetorical Path Dependency Dr

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo 1 Sticky Words? Towards a Theory of Rhetorical Path Dependency Dr Dennis C. Grube University of Cambridge Email: [email protected] Abstract: Speech matters. Political actors are defined by what they say as much as by what they do. But with each rhetorical choice, they also narrow the range of rhetorical options open to them for the future. This paper examines the idea of path dependency, a well-established concept in the field of policy studies, and applies it to the study of political rhetoric. It argues that words are sticky, leaving political leaders caught between the desire to utilise fresh and engaging rhetoric to explain new policy choices and the reality that they can’t shake off the wording of their previous promises. In advancing a theory of rhetorical path dependency, the paper builds on the insights of both discursive institutionalism and rhetorical political analysis to suggest that whilst ideas are indeed vital to the shaping of institutions, the arguments that give those ideas shape can themselves be constrained by earlier choices. Keywords: rhetoric; path dependency; discursive institutionalism; Abbott government; Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of colleagues in the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of Tasmania, and the Centre for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University. 2 Sticky Words? Towards a Theory of Rhetorical Path Dependency Political leaders like to portray themselves as straight talkers. They understand the electoral benefits that can attach to those who are seen by the electorate as being honest and straightforward in their choice of words. Amidst a political discourse framed by the careful political marketing of politicians and party ‘brands’, individual political actors are fond of stressing that they are different; that they will cut through with some straight talk where others have simply dissembled. But the rhetorical choices of political actors frequently have longer-term consequences. Today’s killer line can evolve into tomorrow’s rhetorical dead weight when political actors are confronted by changing circumstances that don’t yield to the simplicity of their original rhetorical formulation. This article argues that words are sticky. It draws on the concept of path dependency (Pierson 2000; 2004) as a way of analysing the longer-term effects of the rhetorical choices that political actors make. Rhetorical choices are examined not simply as a tool of political persuasion, but as promises that can assume institutional characteristics capable of limiting subsequent rhetorical options. The article argues that political leaders are caught between wanting to embark on new policy directions and the need to remain trustworthy in the eyes of the electorate by staying true to their earlier rhetorical formulations. Thus, the rhetorical choices made at critical junctures can define the range of future options available. Actors effectively become trapped in gilded rhetorical cages of their own making, wherein the very success of their earlier rhetoric paradoxically prevents them from easily adopting new rhetorical formulations even when circumstances may require it. The article seeks to investigate the theoretical underpinnings of this phenomenon, and identify the factors that can work to aggravate or mitigate rhetorical path dependent effects. In the sections that follow, the article begins by setting out existing theories of path dependency and how they can be usefully applied to the study of rhetoric. It then examines some of the more recent theoretical advancements in the study of ideas, discourse and rhetoric. Specifically it addresses discursive institutionalism (Schmidt 2010) and rhetorical political analysis (Finlayson 2007) to suggest that whilst ideas are indeed vital to the framing of institutions, the arguments that give those ideas shape can themselves be constrained by earlier choices. The paper sets out a heuristic of the factors likely to impact on the degree of path dependency that may attach to any particular rhetorical formulation, and sets out a short exploratory case study to demonstrate the heuristic’s applicability. The final section suggests areas for further research, and examines the potential and the limitations of viewing political rhetoric through this kind of path dependent frame. Path Dependency and Discursive Institutionalism Path dependency is a concept that emerged from theories of historical institutionalism, arguing for the need to take what one might call the ‘long view’ when assessing policy processes and institutional shapes and how they might have come about. In essence, path 3 dependency argues that past action has significant consequences for the range of future options that any individual, organisation or institution has available to them (see Mahoney and Thelen 2010; Pierson 2004). ‘Path dependency speaks to the common observation that the legacy of the past conditions our future, at the policy level and at the level of institutions’ (Gains, John, and Stoker 2005: 27). Kay (2005), drawing on North (1990), argues that a ‘…process is path dependent if initial moves in one direction elicit further moves in that same direction; in other words the order in which things happen affects how they happen; the trajectory of change up to a certain point constrains the trajectory after that point’ (2005: 553). In conceptualising path dependence, Mahoney (2000) emphasises that path dependency is about more than simply saying that ‘history matters.’ He argues that ‘path dependence characterizes specifically those historical sequences in which contingent events set into motion institutional patterns or even chains that have deterministic properties’ (2000: 507). In other words, the point at which an initial choice or decision is made – often characterised as a ‘critical juncture’ (see Hogan 2006) – creates boundaries that limit future choices. Mahoney identifies two types of analysis practised by path dependency scholars. The first is to focus on ‘self-reinforcing sequences’, in which ‘increasing returns’ entrench patterns of behaviour because of the costs associated with going back to the start to begin anew (Mahoney 2000: 508). The second is to examine ‘reactive sequences’ in which events are studied as a sequential chain, with each link being a reaction to the one preceding it, with each forming a step in the path that leads to whatever outcome is being studied (Mahoney 2000: 509). In both forms of analysis a ‘path’ is a pattern of continuing behaviour, with the difference being in the causal forces shaping the pattern. Path dependency does not argue in any of its forms that change never occurs, merely that it is difficult. And its key insight in this regard is that the costs of exit rise as the benefits of continuity grow, making change not just difficult but costly in either a fiscal or a political sense. As a result, change only occurs in a very wrenching fashion when a critical juncture arises. Critiques of path dependency – as with critiques of historical institutionalism more broadly – have focussed on allegations that it is overly- deterministic and doesn’t allow sufficiently for both the influence of individual agency and the impact of incremental change in between the critical junctures that jolt a system off its prior path (see Peters, Pierre, and King 2005; Schmidt 2010). As Kay argues, the view that critical junctures can only take the form of a single exogenous shock – akin to a big bang – is too binary, and we must allow for the possibility that cumulative endogenous change can have a sufficient impact in potentially changing the direction of a policy path (Kay 2003: 416). Path dependency’s insight that the cost of changing paths rises over time is particularly useful when examining its effects on political rhetoric. A piece of political rhetoric uttered only once in passing is less likely to attract strongly path dependent effects than something which is repeated and consistently adhered to over time. Pierson argues that this issue of ‘time’ is central to understanding how path dependency works: 4 Increasing returns dynamics capture two key elements central to most analysts’ intuitive sense of path dependence. First, they pinpoint how the costs of switching from one alternative to another will, in certain social contexts, increase markedly over time. Second, and related, they draw attention to issues of timing and sequence, distinguishing formative moments or conjunctures from the periods that reinforce divergent paths. In an increasing returns process, it is not only a question of what happens but also of when it happens. Issues of temporality are at the heart of the analysis. (2000: 251) Actors who are experiencing the increasing returns of staying on a path are of course less inclined to accept the costs of ultimately deciding to stray from it (Gains et al 2005: 27). I argue here that these same path dependent effects that are discernible in the making and changing of public policy extend equally to rhetorical choices. If an actor is experiencing positive benefit from a particular rhetorical formulation, they will be disinclined to change tack, even if a change in circumstances suggests that they should. But more importantly, in the process of experiencing those positive benefits they are highly likely to have entrenched the grip of the rhetorical formulation within the

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